Means for towing boats, vessels, and the like on waterways



'March 17, 1925. 1,530,395

A. H. MLLER A MEANS FOR TOWING BOATS, VESSELS, AD THE LIKE ON WATERWAYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. H. MLLER Filed Jupe 27 MEANS FOR TOWING BOATS, VESSELS, AND THE LIKE 0N WATERWAYS ,March 17, 1925.

Zh/*enfer 'HH/Waver by /W/ @lf/@WW Patented Mar. 17,1925.

UNITED STA TES PATENT oFFic-E.l

ARTHUR HUGO MLLER, or BLANKENESE, lNEAR,IFIAMiairimf, GERMANY.

MEANS ron rrowiiie Boers, vEssELs, ANDTHE LIKE on wATEEwAYs.

Applicationifded June 427, 1924. SeriallNo. 7722,852;

To all whom it may cof/lacra.'

Be it known that I, ARTI-TUR IIGO'ML LER, a citizen of Germany, residing atl- Blank enese, near Hamburg, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Towing Boats, Vessels, and vthe. like on IVaterways, of which the following' is a specification. i

It has been tried to solve the problem. of electrol mechanical towing i o nuk inland water ways, channels, Vrivers and the like, byrunning a traction device along a track suspended over a water way, which traction device is supportedy on the vessel in such way as to allow oflateral deviations or movements of the ship with regard to the track automatically, ywhile"variations of the distance between the ship and stance to irregularities inv the positionbf `the track, `variations in temperature, ror

owing tobad erections or fittings andpitching of the ship itself, when l'iiglrwaves are'l going, or two ships pass by. Such fluctuations particularly on the points .of suspension of the track couldy not heretofore bel balanced sufficiently, even if the track had a certain elasticity such when consistingl of a chain or cable.

The object of the present invention is to construct means for towing, by which all the requirements of a steady andV unobjectionable towing are fulfilled. This object in view the driving mechanism, usually carrying an electroinotor is `mounted oscillatory or floatiiigly on the vessel and is balanced in such way that it follows thefluctuations inthe distance .between the vessel and the track` kautomatically without the latter being burdened by load. InV a preferred form the balancing means may be mounted directly on deck of the vessel, which is particularly of advantage where high stands, which. take away a greaty amount of space on deck, are avoided, and inl thel track in vertical plane are accounted lforby constructed as `to avoid the elecmodification and Fig.v l is aiielevation of one part ofa' )Figa 4- a plan lofthe' construction' shown inFig-3. y

- The driving mechanism constructed as a driving mechanism t is adapted to run along the track b and has'airupper'part c for being properly guided onthe track, lIn they construction shown the track b is con structed similar to a rack having'teeth or pins b1 with which the teeth of the sprocket-'- wheels 01 engage. l The driving mechanism` a iS floating'ly linked at d to atwo links or levers e, f, pivoted intermediatevof the ends to abracket'g` and carrying at their freeends a counterweight hl to balance theweight of mechanism a., The mechanism a, the two links constructed as double armed levers c,

so `as to secure the correctvertical position .of the driving mechanism no lmatter vto what,V

height it is raised. fvvThe. bracket g is yrotatably supportedabouta central axis on 'a four legged stands' i2 telescoping into one another` so Akas to be'r adjustable in their length in well known manner.' By the levers c and'f beingy oscil-v latorily mounted on the. bracket g` the inember t can move automatically up and down according to the fluctuations ofthe height ofy the track Zi, the oo unter'weight hcontinuousandthe weight. It form a parallellogram v on the deck of the vessel, the 'legs being preferably made :insections .1 and ly tending to' raise'tlie mechanism wup to the track, and the bracket g being rotatably mounted on the stand the mechanism a is adapted also to oscillate horizontally about lthe central axis of the bracket g. This is particularlyof importance when two vessels4r being towed in different directions meet and are allowed to pass one another; the levers @,fwillthen turnout angularly to thecenter line ofthe vessel into the position for instance'shown inFig. 2 in dotted lines.`

The levers c, 'form 'a frame, which is pivotally mounted on the bracket gv and carn ries on. one end the' driving meclian'isinqa and on the other "end theweight 71, balancing the trolley so asto raise it up to the track independent of the variations in itsheiglit.

In the modification shown in Figs. 3 andy i means are provided to avoid the stand i which takes away a comparatively large part of the space on deck. In this modification instead ot two double armed levers the link carrying the driving mechanism termed only by a single arm oX pivotally connected to a bracket g* directly mounted on deck lof the vessel. The weight It* is mounted on an arm 0X1 also pivotally attached to the bracket gX opposite the arm cx, and carries a comparatively small stand fx. The upper end of this stand is connected with the arm 0X intermediate 'ot' its ends by a sectional tie-,rod 7c between the sections ot which a stretching screw m is inserted adapted to shorten or lengthen the tie-rod. By shortening the tie-rod t-he driving,` mechanism a attached to the end of the arm c is raised to such, a height that it can be moved along thetrack b. The counterweight It* has here the same effect as the countcrweight 7L described with reference to l'rigs. l and 2 so as to account for fluctuations in the height of thetrack.

ln this modification (Figs. 8 and 4) it is not necessary to mount the electro-motor for towing or drawing the shipon the driving mechanism as is usually done in plants ot this description hereto'tore, but it is mounted here on the arm 0X1, thus also serving as a counter weight. The driving mechanism (i can be made very low. This modification is very convenient for enabling the vessel to be towed below bridges or on other tracks which cannot be mounted very high. Particularly in passing locks this arrangement will be of great value where the track ior the., underwater is very high, and whenl raised up to the upper water will be low in comparison to the level of the water. The arm c* together with the driving mechanism awill be raised or lowered by turning the stretching screw m. in one or the other direction. For small fluctuations in the height oi the track even under bridges which are not too low the automatical balencinoy olf the weight will be suicient.

insiemi ot mom'iting the bracket g* directly on the deck 'it migln be mounted on a screw jack fn. oli known construction similar to such as is used tor raising road vehicles.

"ihe arms cxl land 0X1 together with the stand 7""X andthe tie-rod 7c form the frame pivotally mounted on the bracket gx and carrying on one end the balance-weight, and on the other end the trolley raised up to the track by said weight as explained above.

I claim:

i. The combination with a vessel, of an 'overhead track, driving mechanism adapted to run along the overhead track and mounted iioatingly on the vessel, and means to automatically balance the driving mechanism as to its height'so as to account for variations in the height of the track.

2. The combination with a vessel, ot an overhead track, a bracket on said vessel, a frame oscillatorily mounted on said bracket, a driving mechanism pivotally attached to one end of the frame and adapted to run along the overhead track, and a counter-weight on the other end of the frame to balance the driving mechanism for engaging the track.

3. The combination with a vessel, ot an overhead track, a bracket on said vessel, a trame oscillatorily mounted on said bracket and comprising a link pivotally connected at one end withv the bracket, a weighted member also pivotally connected with the bracket and means to adjustably connect said member with said link, a driving mechanism pivotally attached to the other end of said link and adapted to run along the overhead track,

4;. The combination with a vessel, of an overhead track, a. bracket on said vessel, a frame oseillatorily mounted on said bracket and comprising a link p'ivotally connected at one endV with the bracket, a weighted member also pivotally connected with the bracket, a tie-rod adjustable in length and connecting said weighted member with said link at a point intermediate of its ends, a driving mechanism pivotally attached to the other end of said link and adapted to run along the overhead track.

5. The combination with a vessel, of an overhead track, a bracket on` said vessel, a trame oscillatorily mounted on said bracket and comprising a link pivotallyconnected at one end to the bracket, a weighted arm also pivotally connected at one end to the bracket, a frame on said arm, a sectional tie-rod connecting the upper end of the frame with said link intermediate ot' its ends, a turn buckle between the sections of thc lie rod Ylor :uljusting its length, and a driving mechanism pivot-ally attached to the free end oli the link and adapted to run along thev overhead track.

(i. The combination with a vessel, of an overhead track, a bracket on said vessel, a support member oscillatorily mounted on said bracket, a driving mechanism pivotally attached to one end of the member and adapted to run along the overhead track, a counter-weight on the other end of the member to balance the driving mechanism when engaging the track, and means for adjusting the height of the bracket.

ARTHUR nooo" MLLER.

Cil 

